The swim/bike bricks and I reconsider socks

by charlieeliseJun 16th 2011

Well, it's been a while, but it's been going well. I find I get anxious about one part, then get more comfortable with that, then I go on to something else. Will I ever run out of things to worry about? Generally I've been feeling very confident about finishing so am hoping to do as well as I possibly can come race day.

One recent anxiety was T1 - the swim to bike transition. I posted a forum topic about it on the BADtri forum and Andy came to my rescue. He set Hecate up on a turbo at the edge of the wonderful Portishead lido one sunny Tuesday evening. If you haven't been there, you should, the temperature is perfect, the feeling of being out in the air is wonderful. We had an outdoor pool at school but it was colder: I was dreading 'breaking the ice on the way in' but it was truly fabulous. And it's 33.3 metres, less of that boring turning nonsense...

Andy got me to swim a few lengths and then jump out and go through my transition. I managed to do this twice as well as some drills with the rest of the session and it was odd. Being soaking wet on the bike. My shoes - soaked. My legs - tired. I'm so glad I did it, it'll help me prepare. And getting my feet into the shoes? Really hard. I'm reconsidering my socks actually. I have to cycle AND run in my shoes. Blisters are a very real possibility. If I had cycle shoes, maybe not. But I don't yet.

I really, really love swimming by the way. The feeling of being immersed in water. Breathing and not drowning. Seeing through the water... gliding along, slipping through waves... it's like poetry and I hate it if I don't get to swim regularly. Then again when I get back in the water it's wonderful, like becoming a mermaid. I don't even care if I can't go as fast as some. I love the feeling.